These CPSEs committed projected investments in a meeting held under the Chairmanship of Pulok Chatterjee, Principal Secretary to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on January 3, 2012, Minister for Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises Praful Patel said in a written reply to the Lok Sabha.

Referring to the available data, he said that among 17 CPSUs, ONGC committed a investment of Rs 40,975 crore, followed by NTPC Rs 20,995 crore, PGCIL Rs 20,000 crore, SAIL Rs 14,500 crore and OIL Rs 10,378 crore.

"The issue of capital investment has been included as a parameter in the memorandum of understanding signed by 17 large CPSEs for the year 2012-13," Patel said.

The MoUs are signed between the CPSEs and their administrative ministries/departments and is facilitated by the Department of Public Enterprises (DPE).

Recently, the Prime Minister has interacted with the chief executives of various CPSEs and it was emphasised that domestic demand is the driver for investments, Patel said.

The CPSEs have been asked to use their surplus funds for benefits of their company as well as for the economy, he added.

Asked whether PSUs which do not deploy the surplus funds would have to pay a special dividend, Patel said, "The DPE has not issued any guidelines on payment of special dividends by CPSEs."